Law banning use of lead shot in duck hunts ignored

Duck hunters are flouting the law on the use of lead ammunition. Photograph: Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images

The law banning the shooting of ducks and other wildfowl with lead shot is being widely flouted across England, according to a government-funded study.

Seven in 10 of the ducks checked at game-dealers, butchers and supermarkets were killed with lead ammunition, while surveys of shooters and shoot organisers revealed that many admitted they did not always comply with the regulations introduced in 1999.

The measures were meant to stop the death of waterbirds from lead poisoning caused by them mistakenly eating spent shot which they mistook for food or grit needed to aid their digestion. This was thought to account for one-in-eight bird deaths. But no one is known to have been prosecuted for breaking the law which could result in a £1,000 fine. The regulations also ban lead shot being used to kill any birds below the coastal spring-tide high-water mark or in specified wetlands.

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), which wrote the report with the help of surveys by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), said there had been no improvement since the trust conducted a smaller study with the RSPB in 2002. Non-compliance remained "high and widespread". Businesses selling duck killed by lead pellets are not breaking the law.

The checks indicated how the law was particularly poorly observed on inland game and duck shoots. Wildfowlers shooting birds in coastal areas were less likely to supply game outlets, the report noted.

The BASC surveys found up to 45% of those responding admitted not always complying with the law. Some did not believe lead poisoning of wildlife was a sufficient problem to justify the regulations and others believed lead shot was more effective and less expensive than alternative ammunition, including steel, tungsten and bismuth.

The WWT is calling on the government to do more to ensure the law is obeyed. It recommends that offences are reported, and said shoot organisers should make compliance with the law a condition of taking part, and that game-dealers should demand that all their suppliers had behaved legally.

The BASC agrees all regulations applying to the use of lead shot should be observed. A spokesman said: "We need to address the problems this is showing up."

The Lead Ammunition Group, a panel established by environment department Defra and the Food Standards Agency, is to report on the health impacts of lead shot on both wildlife and humans next summer.